Monday, February 25, 2013

Alas, I have yet again had a huge gap in posts. This one was much longer and honestly coming back caused me a bit of anxiety. See once I let something go by the wayside, I tend to not want to start it back up for fear of someone saying, "See I told you , you couldn't do it, you can't keep up with anything" and so I try to let things die quietly. However I believe in this blog and obviously you guys do, otherwise you wouldn't stay here reading this! Also I would like to announce that people are able to find me through google search! To anyone but me I'm sure that is not very exciting...but to me it's a pretty big landmark! That and the fact that I have double digit readers in 3 countries, woohoo!

Also I have made stunning progress on my sweater, which translates into me finishing the pocket! However, this is a bittersweet victory because I cannot figure out the instructions for joining the pocket, therefore I will be waiting until I go to the local yarn store! A Grand Skein is seriously an awesome yarn store and the people there are super friendly.

In other news I am deciding to scrap my legwarmers that I started and use my super fancy yarn to make something for a baby :) Haven't decided what yet, totally open to suggestions, for a refresher the yarn is called Mad Hatter(click for picture) So please comment if you think something would look great in that yarn!

Not a whole lot else has been worked on simply because I got horribly sick for a week and then just haven't been feeling motivated, but don't worry! Once I figure out this pocket join I'll be in sweater heaven and then maybe I'll feel amazing enough to do some more gloves. First one on the list is Eric's!

On a side note, I might've blogged about the Photosynthesis Shawl and how the yarn that I had bought is...well in knots, not just one or two...just huge terrible, knitter's nightmares knots. Remember, how my amazing friend Amy sent me a huge box of yarn, well this lovely friend of mine sent me Knit Picks Lace Yarn...more than enough to do this shawl! It is grey, which is my third favorite color and It's beautiful! So perhaps that will be for my shawl, and for the umpteenth time, Thank you Amy!!!!

That is about all I have to blog about, except for I BOUGHT BOTANICAL KNITS! It has a bunch of beautiful patterns and I'm sure I will start on the hat Oak Trail soon! I just love it and its knit in an interesting way and honestly just go buy it!

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

I am terribly sorry for my absence and I'm sure you've all been terrified that I fell off the face of the earth or some very possible thing such as that. Never fear! I took a very long knitting hiatus and have come back, sort of. I worked a while on the front of the sweater, worked more on the glove (still not done...) and I have finally found a project for my skein of Mad Hatter
Legwarmers! I have never actually worn legwarmers but I would like to give them a chance and apparently a lot of my friends think I'd be cute. So I tried to find a pattern, but did not find one I was very happy with so much to my chagrin, I decided to design my own. Right now, where ever Thane is at, he is laughing at me because I swore up and down , I will NEVER design my own stuff. It's stupid and hard and blah blah blah. But he won't have the last laugh because legwarmers are well, simple. Super simple even, all I had to do was cast on some even number and then wrap it around my leg to see if it would fit! So I did, and now as I'm writing this I am about halfway up my leg on the first one! It looks amazing in my personally opinion and am very happy with it.

Color is a bit washed out in the picture but it'll do!

So as most of you can imagine, I am burnt out on these gloves, and I will more than likely never do another pair of gloves from a pattern ever again. The point of a pattern for ME is that I don't have to alter it and keep track of things. If I wanted to have to make 20 changes I would've just designed my own pattern for Pete's sake! So I've resolved, again I'm shaking my fist at Thane, that I need to play around with designing a glove pattern! But enough of that. Onward to a happier image!

Yay for cables! This is a beautiful hat and super fast knit! Super Bulky yarn saves my life haha. I'll be giving this amazing hat away today to Janet! At least I am accomplishing things, even if it isn't the gloves that I should've finished a month ago... Alas you cannot dwell on the past!

That is about all I have for today I might post later tonight with my progress on the legwarmers or gloves!

Thursday, February 7, 2013

The back of the sweater that I started THREE days ago, is done.

And my hand hurts, a lot, but it was well worth it, I see my piece of handiwork and smile triumphantly! It is debatable whether or not I will start the front at this moment or if I'll take a break for a day or two, I'll be sure to update you about this seeing as you will be checking back every ten seconds to see my decision.And now for your viewing pleasure :

Pardon the "not actually good quality" photo but it shows you that it is indeed, finished! Which is what is important!

Short post but I thought it was important to revel in my victory against sweater piece number 1 !

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

sweater it is now 12 inches long! Yay, my hard work is starting to pay off, I finally have to start the 2nd ball of yarn. Not to mention while knitting it is a bit heavy, I swear I have arm muscles. Anywho!

To your right you see a very terrible photo (way too bright in here) of my sweater.

Also in recent news I have received another commission! Yay, this time it is a very nice cabled hat. Have I mentioned my amazing fascination with cables? I've only done two things with cables but I love the technique and if anyone thinks that its hard, please somehow get in touch with me and I'd love to help you out via skype or email or anything.

And yes, I've been working on the glove but not making as much progress as I should be, simply because I'm hypnotized by the stockinette miles of a sweater. Although I am very hesitant of seaming it all together... Oh well! I'll worry about it when I am closer to finishing.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Well, thank you for sticking with me this long and reading my knitting "ramblings" Haha, now you understand where the name for this blog came from! Aren't I clever? Don't answer that.... Anyhow, as I said in my last post, I have embarked on an adventure that is called Sweaters! And the progress on the sweater is minimal but at the same it is a lot of time and effort. I am finally at 6 inches on the sweater out of 20 inches. It is a bit daunting just because I have been doing little else and still not made much progress but it looks fantastic and I can't wait to continue on and finish it! The finished project will be amazing and I'll be very proud to wear it and say that I made it.

In the above picture the color is really bad...Stupid lighting. However that shows the length. So here's another one just focusing on color.

Its a super dark blue mixed with purple and black! Much more blue throughout. Anyway that's my update for the day!

Plus I really need to start on that glove...
Also! I have over 200 views now!! Very exciting for me and thank you everyone for reading this!

I, Ashley Frencl, have embarked on a quest. A quest for a sweater. This has been a daunting thing that I have contemplated for a long time, perhaps 2 or 3 years. Anyway it started with wanting to do a sweater pattern from The Yarn Girl's Guide to Simple Knits, but after figuring out that the size small is about 10 inches too big, I quickly realized that either I had to learn fast how to change a pattern that drastically or I needed to find a new pattern.
So onto Ravelry! I looked for a while but for one reason or another could not find the perfect pattern. It then occurred to me to look through my pattern books! Being the silly person I am I completely forgot about my actual books! So finally, after paging through all the books, I finally got to Stitch N Bitch and I found a perfect pattern! It is called Under the Hoodie and has a hood and a pocket! Plus it is only a couple inches too big which is great for a comfy sweater. As I am typing I have swatched this about 3 times so far and thankfully now I am half done with my last swatch. I kept losing track of rows and one time I had too big needles, which was disappointing. I will never get to knit with big needles! With this sweater I will be knitting with size 6's and size 7's. Much bigger than the crazy 2 1/2 size needles I am using for the gloves. Anywho, this was a small update on my knitting life, and I will be posting pictures as I work on my sweater!

As a side note - Glove number one is done! Thankfully. Now to start on the second one and just plow through it!

So I was going through my knitting wants and needs and I remembered this amazing knit! Every girl dreams of her wedding day and for most knitters who happen to be women I'm sure the thought has occurred to knit their own dress, but alas it's a lot of time and yarn and craziness when YOU should be having the time of your life with your engagement and planning the wedding, however I still think it's a fantastic idea and would really like to do it for myself one day! Also a woman knit her gown and spent only 250!!! Yay money saver!

Click here to see the dress and the pattern :) It is a free pattern ladies! While I know most people won't ever achieve this goal I still think it is beautiful and romantic to think about~

Also an update on the gloves! The fingers were too small, however I was able to tear out the few rows and add a few more stitches and they feel much better! I am now onto the ring finger and I'm so glad!